Topic

Citizens' Appeal: Ensuring expeditious and timely justice to all

Team detailsCoordinator : Pratik RelekarMembers : Vilas Nikumbh

Ajinkya ChouthaiOnkar BhardwajBhavin Shah

College Name: Pune Vidyarthi Griha’sCollege of Engineering and Technology, Pune-9

f the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation; IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO

OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.

“We, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India intoa SOVEREIGN, SOCIALIST, SECULAR, DEMOCRATIC, REPUBLIC and to

secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;and to promote among them allFRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION”.

PREAMBLE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

“Delay Defeats Justice”

A 150 year old case………..Still clogged up in the judicial system.

Simple and frivolous matters take 22 years…. What about more complex issues?

Overstayed his visit for 2-3 days on a visa……….jailed for 13 years without trial.

The Doshipura land dispute case began in 1878 over a graveyard in Doshipura, Varanasi. According to Times of India this is perhaps the world’s longest case. Though Judgements have been delivered they have not yet been implemented and the dispute continues. The land dispute is between Shia and Sunni communities over which community owns the graveyard land. Though the Hon’ble Supreme Court delivered its Judgement in 1981 (100 years after the case was filed as Suit no. 849 in 1878) but still the Government has not implemented it and the courts have not enforced it.

Uttam Nakate was found sleeping on the job on 26th August 1983. After an enquiry his employer-Bharat Forge fired him. The argument in case was whether the company had the right to fire him. The case proceeded through Labor Court, Industrial Tribunal, Hon’ble Bombay High Court and finally in January 2005 the Hon’ble Supreme Court decided in Bharat Forge Co. Ltd vs Uttam Manohar Nakate . The Financial Times quoted that if such simple matters are taking 22 years after a lengthy appeal procedure , What will happen to complex issues affecting the country? Also investor confidence will reduce and the average common man will lose faith.

Indian-born Mohammed Idrees married a Pakistani woman and became a Pakistani citizen. He got a visa of 15 days to visit his ill parents in 1999. However he overstayed his visa for 2-3 days and sought an extension from the visa office. However he was arrested. Without charges he was in jail for 13 years both countries not helping him and was stateless. He was released after 13 years in 2012 without any trial.

BUT, DOES IT REALLY PROVIDE “SOCIAL, ECONOMIC and POLITICAL” JUSTICE?

“Delay Defeats Justice”

• In July 2009, 53,000 cases were pending with the Hon’ble Supreme Court, 40 lakh with High Courts and 2.7 crore with Lower Courts. This is an increase of 139% for the Supreme Court, 46% for High Courts and 32% for Lower Courts from their pendency numbers in January2000.

• 25% of all cases in High Courts have been unresolved for 10 years.

• 70% of all prisoners are under-trials.

• If no new cases are filed, it would take Supreme Court 9 months to clear the backlog of cases at the present rate.

• Similarly, on an average it would take High Courts 2 years 9 months to clear its backlog,. However larger High Courts like the Allahabad High Court would take more than 6 years.

• Number of new cases outnumber those resolved…..

Chief Justice A.P.Shah of Delhi High Court(in a report) said-”It would take the court 466 years to clear cases”

“Delay Defeats Justice”

So who DelaysJustice?

Parties

Government

WitnessInvestigative Agencies

Judges

Did you know that the JMFC

exam of Maharashtra-2013

for selection of Judges got

delayed by more than 2 months?

Is it really safe to

become a witness?

Is our Police trained

enough to gather

“Technical” evidence?

Court is too far & Justice very costly.

“Delay Defeats Justice”

Only 14 Judges per

million people?

• Courts should be instituted at the block level in each district as 70 % of India’s population lives in rural areas

• Steps should be taken to make justice economical for the vast rural population

• Teleconferencing facility should be introduced at the block level courts to ensure less hassles for stakeholders.

Infrastructure

• Increase the skilled manpower for filing and scrutinizing the case before initialization of the case.

• Provide quality training to ensure the work efficiency.Human Resources

• Judicial stamp duties should be made proportionate to the monetary valuation of the case.

• Facility of teleconferencing should be provided to those petitioners who find it cumbersome to approach the distant courts on regular basis, at a bare minimum charge

• Also the institution of block level courts will generate employment for local people which will indirectly generate revenue .

Increment in Budget allocation to Judiciary System

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT CAN DO?

“Delay Defeats Justice”

Supreme Court of

India

Northern Bench

Eastern Bench

Southern Bench

Western Bench

According to the Article 130 -Seat of Supreme Court, The Supreme Court shall sit in Delhi or in such other place or places, as the Chief Justice of India may, with the approval of the

President, from time to time, appoint

• Article 32(3)- Without prejudice to the powers conferred on the Supreme Court by clause ( 1 ) and ( 2 ), Parliament may by law empower any other court to exercise within the local limits of its jurisdiction all or any of the powers exercisable by the Supreme Court under clause(2)

•Need of Decentralization- In 2012, as many as 2,72,832 civil and criminal cases were instituted in the High Court. The pending cases are expected to be appealed in the Hon’ble SC. •Hence considering the geographical enormity of the country and in the interest of public at large, various benches of the Hon’ble SC must be established•This will ensure that the seat of the Hon’ble SC at Delhi will focus mainly on guarding the cardinal principles of the Constitution of India

GOVERNMENT ALONGWITH THE HON’BLE SUPREME COURT CAN IMPLEMENT THE FOLOWING

“Delay Defeats Justice”

Vacant seat of judges: currently 23% posts of Judges in SC, 26% in HC and 18% in lower courts are empty.

3.2 crore cases are pending in HC and lower courts and 56,383 in SC in Dec 2011 (Times of India, December 20, 2011)

To gradually increase the number of Judges in all courts right from lower courts to the Supreme courts in particular to bring the ratio of judges to population to at least 50 per 1 million.

Same Judge handles both civil as well as criminal cases (requires time and thorough investigation) at the same time.

The pendency of huge number of civil cases and its daily filings causes delay in the more complicated criminal cases.

In the subordinate courts where there are more Judges of the same cadre at the same place, as far as possible assigning of civil and criminal cases to the same Judge every day should be avoided.

Unreasonable adjournments in courts.

Case drags on for years, which makes justice in India “costly & uneconomical”.

The court officer appointed must report all the unreasonably adjourned cases to the higher authorities.

Courts (the custodian of our Constitution) lack the punctuality aspect.

Reduction in efficiency of our courts and hence wastage of public money.

With the help of electronic assessment the Court Officer shall prepare the attendance report of Judges to be displayed on official website.

2 months of summer vacations given to the Judges in India

All Cases in general and Civil cases in particular, gets piled up in huge numbers.

Vacations for the Judges should be brought at par with other civil servants of India.

PROPOSED SOLUTIONEFFECTCURRENT

SCENARIO

“Delay Defeats Justice”

How the Judges can be instrumental in the change…

CAUSES

• Unfortunately the witness are treated very shabbily by the system.• In rape cases, there are various stages to give the evidence.• Sometimes, it is not feasible to be present for the witness because of the long distance

of court and in some other cases threat from the accused side.

SOLUTIONS

• Regulate cross examination so as to ensure that the witness is not ill-treated affecting his dignity and honour.

• To solve the cases on speedy trial basis, the evidence should be given before the magistrate only. Also the prosecutor may pay attention to reduce duplication of evidence resulting in unnecessary waste of time of the court and expenses.

• Video conferencing should be provided.

IMPLEMENTATION

• Considering the case severity it is possible to register the evidence before magistrate and also evidence of medical witness, Government scientific experts of mint contemplated by section 291, 292 and 293 of the code shall be tendered as evidence in the form of affidavits.

• A separate officer should be appointed to look into the issues of the witnesses.• For facilities like video conferencing, funds can be raised by increasing stamp duties

and court fees.

What makes witnesses delay the cases?

“Delay Defeats Justice”

NEGOTIATIONYou will have used negotiation to resolve adisagreement. The same process works forsorting out a dispute.Negotiation is where you and the otherpeople involved in the dispute talk about thedispute and try to come to an agreement thatworks for everyone(win-win situation).

MEDIATIONMediation is a process where the participants,with the assistance of an independent personas mediator resolve disputes.A mediator can help you and the otherparticipants have a respectful, evenhandeddiscussion and decision making process. Itcan be court ordered, voluntary or part ofcontract

ARBITRATIONArbitration is a process where you and theother participants present your points of viewand facts to an independent person (thearbitrator).Arbitrators can often make a final andbinding decision about the dispute.Generally, you and the other participants willagree before the arbitration happens that youwill all accept the arbitrator’s decision.

CONCILIATIONConciliation can be similar to mediationalthough the conciliator’s role may be moredirective and advisoryConciliation may also be suitable if you havetried mediation and you and the otherparticipants cannot yet agree.

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE

RESOLUTION

“Delay Defeats Justice”

• People should be educated through free legal aid camps• Education at primary level will create awareness• The law of the land should be made available to people in lucid language and process to

be made hassle free• The Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism should be encouraged and promoted

Current Scenario Proposed Changes

Investigation agencies often lack the skill in collecting evidence so they have to iterate the process.

A technical panel to be set up permanently in each court so that it can assist investigation agencies especially in cyber & Economical crimes.

They are most of the times insensitive to victims as well as witnesses due to which people are unwilling in timely participation which further leads to delay.

Ensure proper training to agencies to sensitize them to deal properly with the people and be able to explain the process to them.

Delay in filing charge sheets by agencies acts as a loop hole in favor of accused.

Strict implementation of “Limitation Act 1963” should be followed under a higher authority.

Current system leads toharassment of public asThey need to fill the sameInformation at differentLevels in long queues.

Better to prepare anINTEGRATED DATABASE FOR INDIAN JUDICIARYto make process simplerand user friendly for public.

Role of Investigating Agencies and Court Officials

“Delay Defeats Justice”

§ Law commission of India Reports

§Mallimath Report 2003

§ LAW AND JUSTICE : A LOOK AT THE ROLE AND PERFORMANCE OF INDIANJUDICIARY by Prof. N.R. Madhava Menon

§ Press Bureau of India

§ The Constitution of India- P.M Bakshi

§ Indian Polity – M Laxmikanth

§ Times of India

§ The Hindu

REFERENCES